While the Switch is currently Nintendo's play to get back into the gaming saddle, in the '80s Nintendo WAS the video-game industry. The Nintendo Entertainment System, or Famicom in Japan, took over the US in the mid-80s, made Mario a star and eased people away from their home computers and into the strange new world of the "video-game console".

But as a new book, NES/Famicom: A Visual Compendium, drops this month to celebrate the classic console, it's time to look back to a time when Nintendo pushed the aesthetic boundaries, rather than being berated for under-powered graphics. Soak in the tome's glorious 8-bit visuals of the console's evolution from 1983 to 1990 – then go buy it here from Funstock.